Press Release
| NMPA 2000 Annual Meeting to Feature Internet Update: www.songfile.com to be Debuted, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) to Speak; Sammy Cahn to be Honored Posthumously. |
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A series of Internet-related announcements by Edward P. Murphy, President and CEO of the National Music Publishers' Association/Harry Fox Agency, that will dramatically launch NMPA into the new millennium, highlighted today's annual NMPA meeting in New York. Attended by several hundred of the leading music publishers from throughout the United States, the meeting featured a demonstration of NMPA/HFA's new Internet portal, www.songfile.com. Songfile.com brings the entire world of music to everyone with Internet access. The business professional, amateur musician and consumer can now access - at the click of a mouse - seven channels of music information on lyrics, sheet music, recordings, live events, instruments, licensing, and music business links. Songfile.com has a searchable database of over two million songs and records published in the United States, all linked to related information and products among the seven channels. The site, which is presented in five languages, also ranks the top two thousand songs over the last five years based on HFA revenues and collections. "As the music publishing industry embraces the extraordinary potential of the digital age, we proudly unveil SongFile.com", Murphy stated. "This launch is the result of years of effort by an exceptional team here at NMPA/HFA, supplemented by some of the best Internet experts in the field. I particularly applaud the efforts of Lansa, which worked with our staff to build the web site, and IBM, which provided the hardware, AS/400, upon which the site is running. I also look forward to our new relationship with Xerox, with whom we are developing both a technical alliance and marketing strategies", he concluded. Murphy also announced that the International Lyric Server, which is the Internet's largest, most popular, and only authorized lyric website, will be returning to the Net over the next several weeks. A subsidiary of Fox Agency International, ILS will offer lyrics to tens of thousands of songs over the Internet. The site has been nominated as the 2000 "Best Reference Site" by the Yahoo Internet Life On-Line Music Awards. Also at the NMPA meeting, Murphy reported on the year's legislative activities, including copyright term extension, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and royalty rate agreements. He revealed the new NMPA International Survey of Music Publishing Revenues, which reports 1997 worldwide revenues of $6.27 billion, an increase of 2.9% over 1996 revenues, on a flat exchange rate basis. In addition, Murphy spoke about the growth in NMPA/HFA's licensing, collections and distribution functions, and will report on a continuing trend that has continued over the last few years: reproduction income has again surpassed performance income. HFA processed over 203,000 licensed requests last year, collecting $437 million in royalties and distributing $428.5 million to its publisher principals - an increase of 6% over 1997's results. Also, HFA's increasingly aggressive and successful audit programs recovered $22.4 million in unpaid royalties, and distributed $23.5 million. At the meeting, Irwin Z. Robinson, Chairman of NMPA/HFA, reported on NMPA's work with the Copyright Office in preventing any further registration fee increases, and implementing the CORDS Program, which will accelerate electronic registration. Robinson discussed the effort to improve enforcement of the LaMacchia bill - which was supposed to stand as a cornerstone of anti-piracy protection on the Internet - and the security required by the music publishing industry before it can support exemptions from infringement liability for "distance learning" - which enables computer hookup between participating classrooms. Peter L. Felcher, General Counsel to NMPA/HFA, spoke about the recent Supreme Court decision on the Eldred case, which presents a potentially grave challenge to the constitutionality of the new term extension legislation. Representative Howard L. Berman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Sub-Committee on Courts and Intellectual Property, addressed current legislative issues relevant to the publisher and songwriting communities. A special highlight of the meeting was the posthumous presentation of the President's Lifetime Achievement Award to songwriter legend Sammy Cahn. Mr. Cahn's widow, Tita, accepted the award. A video tribute to the life and career of Sammy Cahn was shown, featuring never-before-seen footage from the Cahns' personal archives. In addition, a retrospective of his music was performed by cabaret sensation Jeff Harnar, who recently presented a highly acclaimed show entitled "Sammy Cahn All the Way" at New York's Firebird Café. Cahn, who was a leading advocate for copyright protection for songwriters and publishers, was nominated for twenty-eight Academy Awards, and won four times. Best known as the lyricist for many of Frank Sinatra's standards, Cahn's works included: Time After Time, It's Magic, Come Fly With Me, All the Way, Bei Mir Bist du Schoen, The Tender Trap, High Hopes, Let it Snow, The Second Time Around, Teach Me Tonight, Call me Irresponsible, and Three Coins in the Fountain. The National Music Publishers' Association Inc., which was founded in 1917, works to protect and advance the interests of the music publishing industry. With over 700 members, the NMPA represents the most important and influential music publishing firms throughout the United States. The Harry Fox Agency, Inc., the licensing subsidiary of NMPA, provides an information source, clearing house and monitoring service for licensing musical copyrights, and represents over 20,000 music publisher principals and more than 150,000 songwriters. Fox Agency International, launched in 1994, is a special subsidiary of HFA. Contacts: Margaret Drum, NMPA/HFA 212-922-3266 Ken Sunshine Dieter Metzger Sunshine Consultants 212-754-6750 |
